THE POP LIFE

By Robert Palmer

Published: October 21, 1981

MARIANNE FAITHFULL seemed the picture of youth and innocence when she made her American television debut on ''Shindig'' in 1964, singing her first record and first hit, the pretty, wistful ballad ''As Tears Go By.'' And appearances were not entirely deceiving. She had attended a convent school and was only 18 years old when Andrew Oldham, then the manager of the Rolling Stones, met her at a party. The Stones' Mick Jagger and Keith Richards had written ''As Tears Go By,'' but they had not recorded it; the song was too sweet to jibe with their bad-boy image. It was perfect for Miss Faithfull.

During the next few years, a well-publicized love affair between Miss Faithfull and Mr. Jagger served notice that the convent schoolgirl had grown up. And during the late 60's she became heavily involved in hard drugs; her lyrics to the Rolling Stones song ''Sister Morphine'' were apparently written from bitter experience. She was not heard on records for some time, and then, last year, she made an unexpected and triumphant comeback with a new album, ''Broken English.'' A scathing denunciation of male sexual attitudes called ''Why D'Ya Do It?'' that was adapted from a poem by Heathcote Williams, a song about terrorism in Europe (''Broken English''), with lyrics by Miss Faithfull, and most of the other tunes on the record were abrasively personal but unavoidably gripping. They also established Miss Faithfull as a compelling confessional lyricist, an intelligent interpreter of other writers' songs, and a pop singer with the taste and style to find appropriate collaborators and accompanying musicians. Continuing to Grow

The recently released ''Dangerous Acquaintances'' (Island records), Miss Faithfull's followup to ''Broken English,'' suggests that she has continued to grow. The earlier album's principal subjects were sexual and social violence, pain and endurance, and a number of Miss Faithfull's newer lyrics, though by no means all of them, are more positive. But the album also has problems that the sheer intensity of Miss Faithfull's performance on ''Broken English'' overcame. The slick studio gloss favored by the producer of both albums, Mark Miller Mundy, helped ''Broken English'' get extensive radio play in the United States, and it will probably help ''Dangerous Acquaintances,'' too. But Miss Faithfull is singing with a prettier sound now (some of her vocals on ''Broken English'' were croaking rasps), and the overall effect is rather bland - much blander than her lyrics and her stance. Most of her new lyrics are not as compelling as the lyrics on the earlier album, either. One of the most difficult tasks confessional songwriters face is making their positive songs as involving as songs written in frustration or pain. And writing positive songs that deal in generalities and platitudes, as a number of Miss Faithfull's new songs do, is not the answer.

Miss Faithfull was in New York recently, and she proved as outspoken, and as honest, as ''Broken English'' and the best songs on ''Dangerous Acquaintances.'' When she was asked whether her muchpublicized drug problems had saddled her with an image that was difficult to overcome, she smiled wryly. ''At least people can't say that I'm out-of-date because I used to be wear love beads and give people flowers,'' she said. ''I was never a flower child.''

She said she was very proud of her new album, and especially of the more affirmative quality of many of the lyrics. But she was surprisingly quick to agree to the suggestion that a rawer, rougher rock-and-roll sound might be better suited to her songs and her singing. ''It does sound too smooth, doesn't it?'' she said. ''That's what I kept saying when we were recording it, but I don't really know that much about what you do to get the kind of sound I want in a recording studio. So I have to trust my producer, who does hear things differently than I do.'' Loved Punk-Rock

The punk-rock explosion that rocked England in the late 70's left a number of rock artists whose styles were shaped in the 60's wondering which way to turn. The punks played hard, fast and raw, and their lyrics didn't pull punches. But while a number of punk bands achieved commercial success in England, American radio programmers and record buyers continued to favor a more polished sound and tended to reject anything that smacked of punk. One wondered how Miss Faithfull had reacted when she first heard punk rock.

''I loved it,'' she said, smiling again. ''I just loved it. When the Sex Pistols and all those punk bands came along, they were so much like what rock-and-roll was like for me when I first got involved in it. They weren't that different than what the Rolling Stones were like in the beginning, really. I don't think I would have had the audacity to come out of hiding and make 'Broken English' if the punk thing hadn't happened. But now that I've made another album, and have a regular band to work with, I can see I'm going to be able to keep on writing songs and making records. I never really had any say in the way those records I made in the 60's sounded, and I'm still finding my way. But I am finding it.''